Auckland community garden helps get city hands dirty
For those living in the country getting your hands dirty is no big deal, but for those in our biggest city the chance to grow your own food isn’t always a given.
Enter the Triangle Park community garden, a place where people from across Auckland can trade in their bus passes for bulbs.
The garden provides a green space in the Auckland suburb of Massey for people to come and learn about growing and harvesting their own food. Spokesperson Viv Jones says the garden is about allowing people to learn from each other.
“People can contribute as little or as much as they want. We never quite know how many people will show up but that doesn’t matter, we like to think everyone who comes takes some knowledge away with them.”
And it’s not just knowledge the volunteers take away. Viv says whatever food is harvested during the session is given away to those who show up, and the best part of all is that it’s free.
“We don’t charge anything for people to come and help out, we want to keep it as accessible as possible to encourage people to come along and learn about healthy eating and growing your own food.”
The garden has just bought new seeds, tools and a potting table thanks to a grant from the Fonterra Grass Roots Fund. Fund manager Kane Silcock says the gardens are a good example of a group that enriches people’s lives and makes the community a better place to be.
“The fund is our way of supporting projects and ideas that bring our communities together and make them better, safer and more vibrant places to be. It’s a way to say thanks to the people of New Zealand.”
Viv says the money is vital to ensure the gardens can remain open and continue to be a place where people can give gardening a go and hopefully learn some new life skills.
“We like to think that if people come for a while and then don’t return it’s because they have taken that knowledge and are using it in their own homes.”